The Force Awakens: everything you need to know but were too afraid to ask

Find out why Star Wars: The Last Jedi is going to be a must-see – and also what happened in the previous film, The Force Awakens (just in case you missed it)

This Christmas, there’s more than just Santa to get excited about.

There’s a new Star Wars movie then?

Indeed there is. Star Wars: The Last Jedi will be hitting UK cinemas on 14 December. Not that there was ever any doubt: its predecessor, Star Wars: The Force Awakens became the most successful film of all time in the UK.

Remind me what it was like?

“Brightly drawn, occasionally surprising, and an endless pleasure to spend time with,” said The Telegraph’s Robbie Collin. To jog your memory, Finn (Peckham-born John Boyega) is a wisecracking, appealingly uncertain action hero with the slight complication that he’s a former stormtrooper.

Ready for action: Finn tackling Captain Phasma

Meanwhile Rey (fellow Brit Daisy Ridley) donned Luke Skywalker’s mantle as an ordinary kid from a backwater planet being pitched headlong into the struggle for the future of the galaxy.

And the plot, in a nutshell?

Well, it’s 30 years after the Death Star went kaboom. Things haven’t ended happily ever after. A shady outfit called The First Order has risen from the ashes of the old Empire. Newcomers Finn and Rey discovered a droid with a secret (sound familiar?), namely a map to last-Jedi-standing Luke Skywalker’s location.

By the end of The Force Awakens, our heroes have triumphed over the First Order’s machinations but not without tragic losses, and Rey had finally discovered Luke, who’d grown a beard, but then hasn’t everyone these days?

Bad company: Kylo Ren plans his next move

Who’s the bad guy?

That would be Kylo Ren, played with succulent menace by Adam Driver. He instantly achieved infamy when he murdered Han Solo. I blame the parents.

Who were the parents?

Han Solo. And Princess Leia.

Really! Didn’t see that coming.

Yes indeed. Apparently at some point between the original trilogy and The Force Awakens the famously spiky duo found themselves blessed with little Kylo. Ren was trained in the ways of the Jedi by Uncle Luke Skywalker, but went off the rails. But Star Wars has always kept it in the family. Chewbacca’s lineage is so far unclear, though it may have involved an Afghan rug at some point.

And cute robots? Those are the droids I’m looking for.

Then you’re in luck. Not only do the legendary R2-D2 and C-3PO return with the rest of the gang, there’s BB-8, who’s a bit like a basketball and a tennis ball held together by magic, but who can deliver nuanced, moving beeps and squawks. And if it’s cute that floats your boat, you’re going to love the Porgs.

That would be Rian Johnson. He was an inspired choice, an indie director with a handful of well-received films behind him including Brick (2005) and time travel movie Looper (2012). Disney is obviously impressed with their new boy wonder’s work on The Last Jedi. They’ve given him a whole new Star Wars trilogy to work on.

What can I expect from the new one?

The plot remains a tightly guarded secret. All we really know is that it will begin right after the events at the end of The Force Awakens with Rey having finally met Luke. “The galaxy has been thrown into chaos, and The First Order is going to jump on that,” says Rian Johnson. “They’ll be making big moves at the start of the film.”

Do I need to have seen the last one?

No. First Order: bad. New Republic: good. Lightsabers: still cool. That’s all you really need to know.

The Force returns

This series of Telegraph articles, brought to you by Disney, tells you everything you need to know about Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Read them all and more at tgr.ph/thelastjedi.

Out on 14 December, Star Wars: The Last Jedi sees Rey develop her newfound powers with Luke Skywalker’s help, while the Resistance prepares to do battle with Kylo Ren’s First Order.